Today we do not have to go physically to the office and market. Even there is now no need of physical goods and currency to conduct business. In the evolution of business transactions, e commerce is a master stroke and the most recent step coming up.

E-commerce is the general concept covering all the forms of business transactions like recharging, paying bills, buying goods, transferring money or any other information exchange using information and communication technologies. E-commerce takes place between company and their customers or between company and public administration. E-commerce is used everywhere in everyday life. E-commerce ranges from debit/credit card authorization, travel reservation over phone/network , point of sale transactions in retailing, electronic banking, online lottery, online education and so on. You can use the term e commerce and e business interchangeably.

The cutting edge for business today is electronic technology used by electronic commerce phenomenally. There is no denying the fact that the machine called computer has increased our capacity to store, retrieve and search information externally. E commerce helps in conducting business transactions through transferring and processing information. It involves exchange of business ideas using EDI on electronic data interchange. The world has become a much smaller place due to e commerce. Modern business finds that distant and remote markets are in their search within seconds and in a handy way. This saves time, money and energy.

Advantages of e commerce:

Cost effective and consumer friendly

Greater profit margin

Quick comparison

Shopping and 24 hours delivery service

E-commerce is now available everywhere. As soon as we click a button, we see many sites offering attractive advertisements and makes us aware of their products and services and rates at which they would serve us. This helps to know about different companies operating in the world outside our reach but suiting our needs. It was estimated by the researchers that spending on new websites will jump to rupees 1330 billion in 2002 up from 2300 billion in 1997, thus there is 45 times growth in 5 year period.

Over the years e-commerce has brought change in services and increased use of technology. It has helped consumers in many ways. In upcoming years. we will witness e commerce becoming backbone of our country and a new trend of shopping.